Atlanta mayor pledges to aid businesses harmed by water outages as he looks to upgrade system
ATLANTA– Atlanta’s mayor on Wednesday pledged his support for a plan to spend $5 million to reimburse businesses for losses during the city’s water outages since Friday. He promised an assessment of the city’s infrastructure and the deployment of monitors to detect leaking pipes.
Mayor Andre Dickens made the announcements a day later The workers finished the repairs on a broken water pipe. Officials said they restored water flow and normal pressure to customers after the problems started Friday. Downtown Atlanta and nearby neighborhoods remain under emergency orders boil water before drinking it until sampling shows the water is safe, a period that will likely last until Thursday.
“We know this disruption has not been easy for you and we appreciate your patience and understanding throughout this journey,” Dickens said. “We are happy to be on the other side.”
The water outages in Atlanta are the latest failures as cities across the country shore up faltering infrastructure. A 2022 crisis in Jackson, Mississippi, with a water system that has been in trouble for a long time, leaving many residents without safe running water for weeks. Other cities included Flint, Michhave also struggled to provide residents with safe drinking water.
The first term Democratic mayor has been under fire for Atlanta’s response to the leaks, especially since Dickens left the city after the first major leak began traveling to Memphis, Tennessee, where he held a fundraiser for his 2025 re-election campaign and met with that city’s leaders to investigate crime and discuss other issues. Dickens’ government said it was not clear the first leak west of downtown would cause major disruption if it traveled further. A second major leak in the city’s Midtown neighborhood began later Friday.
The first leak was fixed on Saturday, but the second leak continued to flow into the city’s streets until Monday.
The city will begin installing devices at valves that can electronically detect and report leaks, said Al Wiggins Jr., commissioner of the Department of Watershed Management. He said the pilot program was planned before the leaks. Wiggins also said the city will increase inspections and attempt to repair some other valves that are not working properly.
Dickens said this would be part of a broader effort to investigate the city’s water system, including help from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and a panel he announced would be led by former Mayor Shirley Franklin and Katie Kirkpatrick, CEO of Metro Atlanta Chamber. He said he would also consider rescheduling the city’s capital improvement plans to prioritize water system upgrades.
The mayor said he would seek more federal funding, but warned the work could be very expensive.
“I want us to be the example of solving it – everything. And that will be a number in the B billions. It will not be a small number,” said Dickens. “But I think that will give our residents more confidence.”
Atlanta voters have supported improvements. Last month, they approved continuing a 1-cent sales tax to pay for water and sewer improvements.
Atlanta once dumped untreated sewage into creeks and the Chattahoochee River until a federal court ordered it to stop. Since then, it has spent billions modernizing its aging sewer and water systems, even drilling a tunnel through 5 miles of rock to store more than 30 days’ worth of water.